


Prisoner

by DistillanceFlake



Category: Metal Fight Beyblade | Beyblade: Metal Fusion
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Anxiety, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture, questionable depictions of trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-04-23 21:18:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14341104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistillanceFlake/pseuds/DistillanceFlake
Summary: When Kyoya goes missing it isn't unusual. When his bey turns up without him, however, Gingka and the others know it's more than another training outing. They find him captured, injured in body and spirit and silent about both. One would hope that that's the end of it.It isn't. A new beyblade organization has arisen with intentions less than pure.





	1. Caged Lion

**Author's Note:**

> I have this posted on Fanfiction.net, but since I spend more time here it just seems right that it ends up on ao3. 
> 
> I'm gonna try to add warnings and such but... I'm pretty bad at following through. So read at your own caution.

He shuts the door carefully, wary of its weight making a thud to alert anyone nearby, and slides down the bolt. It deadens the distant sounds of commotion, giving the space a purposeful silence, and Gingka turns to the others behind him. “Let’s split up. We’ll have a better chance of finding him that way.”

  


“How are we going to know where he is with all of these pathways?” Kenta asks worriedly.

  


“We’ll figure it out. We aren’t leaving until we know he’s safe, no blader gets left behind,” Gingka assures him, determination hard in his voice although he himself isn’t sure where to start. The rest of the group, Tsubasa, Yuu, Madoka, Masamune, and all of the former team Wildfang minus one member, nod in agreement and begin separating off. There’s a moment when Gingka almost takes back his first decision when he remembers that Madoka has no bey, and therefore no way to protect herself, but she takes it into her own hands. 

  


“Hey Tsubasa, you don’t mind me tagging along, do ya?” He hears her ask. Her voice seems a little unsteady, but she keeps a bright smile on her face so maybe it’s just his imagination. 

  


Tsubasa, lightly surprised, allows, “I don’t mind.” 

  


From the right, Nile and Demure seem to have claimed the route closest to the door and before heading down Nile offers, “If anyone finds him, let the rest of us know.” 

  


Yuu’s method of choice is very simple, going, “Eeny-meeny-miney-whatever,” and walking off in no particular direction with a song echoing off the walls, and Kenta hurries after him. 

  


Benkei watches them for just a moment, but he can’t afford to waste time. None of them could, not when Kyoya was somewhere inside this building. He moves alone through his own way, keeping on guard because if something could keep Kyoya hidden away for so long, it wasn’t good. The corridor is washed in an uncomfortable dimness, shadows only broken by the occasional room with a light forgotten in the rush to leave, and the glimmers of working electronics in the walls and the ceiling. None of the first few rooms, though scanned carefully, hold anything interesting. A few are just storage, three are janitorial closets which seemed like far too many too close to each other. Then there are more storage rooms, a few locked that Benkei has to break down, but inside of these are beyblades, lying in opened boxes or across the floor. Another room past that is just a wide open space like a gym, but with a lot of random junk scattered around. He’s glad this one is open since it looks like the doors are a lot stronger, like the one they had used to get to this section of the building.  

  


It’s when Benkei starts finding rooms full of metal fenced spaces, like the kennels for dogs in shelters, that he feels like he’s getting somewhere. At the same time, unease prickles at him. There are things like plastic bowls with food and water left inside the kennels-  _ human _ food, albeit not very good looking. Even a few scattered blankets and the kennels themselves are only a few feet wide. He isn’t sure what exactly to make of it, but something burns in his chest just seeing it. 

  


There aren’t many rooms after the first like that that Benkei has to search when he finally walks into one that isn’t empty. Through the metal fencing, he can see a figure in one of the front kennels farthest from the door, although it’s too dark in the room to see it properly. For a moment Benkei almost calls out to who he thinks could be Kyoya, but the words die before they make it to his throat. It’s almost like a betrayal to even consider that Kyoya could be caged. Certainly he’d rather die first. Kyoya would never allow such an affront to his dignity or freedom, so this couldn’t be Kyoya- even if it would make sense for why he hadn’t escaped. Benkei should make sure though, just in case. It wouldn’t be right to leave someone anyways. 

  


He walks closer and crouches down to see the person better, who scrambles away as soon as he starts. With just the light from the room across cutting in from the door, there isn’t much to see. They’re pressed up against the wall to the left, their knees in front, and they-  _ he  _ doesn’t have a shirt, just black pants that lead down to bare feet. Benkei can see that his hair sticks up every which way and hangs in his face, but the color’s indistinct. He can’t see the person’s face well enough to know who it is either. They’d been avoiding turning on lights in case there was people leftover whose attention could be attracted, but Benkei needs to know. 

  


He moves to the entrance and, after a moment of searching, flips a switch. The right half of the room’s lights flicker on and that’s more than enough for a stone to materialize in Benkei’s stomach at the sight of hunter-green. Anticipatory fear makes the steps back to the cage like wading through water, but Benkei makes himself reexamine the captive. The way he’s hunched in on himself makes in hard to see his face, but familiar steely-blue stares back at him. Some re-angling is necessary to pick out part of scars below them, but for all the similarity they may as well have been photoshopped onto this person who’s pale and almost gray from layers of grime caked over his skin. Half of his face is purple and swollen, and most- but not all- of the signs of a nosebleed have flaked away. Just from Benkei’s current position, he can see a litany of angry-looking cuts and gashes all over the person’s shoulders and back, deep and red with inflammation; a few have begun weeping fresh blood from his movement.  

  


It almost feels like a mistake. That this person, same size, same hair and eyes and  _ scars  _ just happens to look like his best friend and Kyoya is somewhere else, whole and annoyed at them for taking so long, or perhaps for even thinking he needed rescuing in the first place because he is  _ Kyoya Tategami _ \- as if that fact alone made him invincible. And no, Benkei forces himself to admit, Kyoya really  _ isn’t _ . He wasn’t even stronger than Benkei by brute muscle and size, although he could cut it closer than it should be just by pure determination, and that was where his strength really was. Pure unyielding drive towards whatever he focused on and the resilience to survive it. He could take whatever was thrown at him and come out on top, and that made him seem twice as big as he really was. 

  


But. But he was still human. And no denial could change that Kyoya wasn’t anywhere but here, right in front of him... and hurt. 

  


It had to be. Benkei breathes in and manages aloud, “Kyoya?”

  


The captive flinches, his breath hitches a little and brings Benkei to notice how rough it is. Kyoya doesn’t speak, but his reaction is enough. This is him, locked away in a cage and beaten almost past recognition. Benkei has to get the others, has to get help right away but- ...Kyoya has his pride. He wouldn’t want to be seen like this. Benkei doesn’t even know how he can bear to show the others and tell them this is the fierce Leone blader because this is  _ so wrong,  _ this  _ isn’t how it should be.  _

  


His eyes and throat burn a little, and Kyoya wouldn’t want to be pitied so he tries to smooth out his crumpling face but it doesn’t work, so he just covers it. Something is building in his chest like a sob, something helpless, because what can he possibly do for Kyoya when he’s so hurt. This is just like when Doji took him away, only Doji just trained him and took him somewhere that Kyoya only spoke about once, when he looked at Benkei with a manic hungry way and tried to destroy him. This is too much. It’s so much worse. 

  


“...Kyoya.” The sound escapes the vice of feeling and from under his hands, mournful sounding. 

  


What could he possibly do?

  


“Benkei?”

  


Benkei turns, startled, to see Gingka standing in the entrance. His eyes are wide, eyebrows lifted to pinch together with uncertainty and worry. He looks across the room through the fencing to Kyoya, his expression hardens decisively and walks further in. Everything about his demeanor is careful as he kneels beside Benkei, and Benkei watches his eyes as they take in the state of Kyoya, creasing with pain for him but otherwise remaining solemn. “Should we get the others?” He asks after a moment of quiet. 

  


Benkei shrugs wearily, still conflicted but settling to the reasoning that getting Kyoya out is the priority here, regardless of the rest. He lets Gingka get up and go for everyone else, unwilling to walk away from Kyoya. Benkei focuses on the lock instead. It could be easily busted off with a strong enough bey, but the problem was the control needed. Benkei’s launches had never been as neat as some of the others, they’d never had to be, but now he regrets not making more effort towards that, especially as the footsteps grow closer. 

  


He doesn’t miss Kyoya shifting back a bit further, or how he turns to face the noise with his shoulders braced. The shock from the others is audible, little gasps and murmurs, even Madoka exclaiming softly, “Kyoya!” It isn’t until the click of a loaded bey that Benkei turns, eyes finding Gingka. 

  


“We have to get him out of there,” He says simply, then launches at the lock. As expected, it busts easily and tumbles to the floor, allowing the door to swing open an inch by itself but Kyoya only stiffens further. 

  


When he makes no move to get out of the kennel, Nile moves in closer and urges, “Come on, Kyoya we need to leave.” Kyoya instead flashes a snarl in their direction and slips back farther away, maneuvering with his hands and feet- foot, Benkei notes that his left leg isn’t taking any weight. From the back of the space, Kyoya watches them with his wide eyes flicking distrustfully between them all, reflecting the low light with an eerie, almost animalistic glow. Benkei frowns. 

  


Gingka is next to inch closer, reaching out as if to pull Kyoya from the cage, and encourages, “I may not know what happened to you, Kyoya, but I promise we can help you. Please, you can walk out right now and be free.” Desperately, he stretches farther, but Kyoya only presses father back. “ _ Please _ Kyoya!”

  


“Hey, I think we should move back,” Benkei interrupts softly. The others stare in surprise, but Benkei doesn’t blame them. He knew how loud he was, he had a lot of emotions that he expressed freely, but this wasn’t the time for that. Right now they were crowding Kyoya like this, all bunched in front of the exit, and Kyoya had never liked that even in a quiet scenario. “We’re suffocating him,” Benkei explains, then carefully nudges Nile and Gingka, as well as the others gathered behind him, back. They all stand back a couple feet away, waiting silently. Minutes later when he still hasn’t moved Masamune groans in irritation. 

  


“Why won’t he just come out!?” He stomps off to the side and crosses his arms impatiently. 

  


Kenta frowns and suggests, “Maybe he’s too hurt to?” He peers closer at the cage while being cautious not to get closer, and it makes him look like he’s balancing at the edge of something. “He does seem pretty beat up…”

  


“He isn’t too hurt to move away from us, so I’d bet he just doesn’t trust us,” Tsubasa cuts in from beside Demure and Madoka. Meeting their eyes, he adds, “From what he’s been through, he’s probably got a good reason not to.”

  


Gingka, face taut with concern, echos half to himself, “...Doesn’t trust us…” His brows pinch in thought, searching for a solution when his hand brushes the lump in his pocket. His eyes go wide. “Leone!”

  


At his exclamation, all eyes go to him and fill with realization. “Of course!” Madoka cries. “Leone means everything to him!” 

  


Gingka takes out the bey and, with a deep breath, steps back closer to the cage’s front. He’s careful to leave a space between himself and it when he kneels down, then slowly, with some tense hope reaching his face, extends Leone back to its owner. He holds it there steadily like a peace offering while they wait, all baited breaths and Benkei with particular rapt attention. There had always been something special about the relationship between Kyoya and his bey. While Kyoya rarely spoke openly, Leone always channeled the truth of his feelings into their fights. For as long as Benkei had known him this had proved itself, time and time again. If Kyoya doesn’t take Leone, he wonders what it means.

  


Kyoya’s darting eyes finally rest on the familiar top for a few counts before hesitantly, he stretches out a hand. A break remains between them still, and it’s with even heavier reluctance and a quick check towards everyone huddled to the right of Gingka that he finally shifts forward. The air seems to leave the room until Kyoya’s fingers hover over Gingka’s. Slowly they curl around Leone and Kyoya brings the bey up to his face, awe-stricken, to examine it. When he seems to confirm it as his bey, something inside him releases. His shoulders open back to their natural position and his knotted posture loosens, and he doesn’t pull away when Gingka reaches to him this time. Instead, he looks up at Gingka carefully, possibly reassessing him, and reaches back. 

  


The move out of the kennel is stiff and unsteady even when Kyoya finally pulls himself upright, his left foot dangling off the floor. Benkei moves to support him on that side, wrapping one of Kyoya’s arms over his shoulder and a hand around his waist, carefully avoiding the red splotching over his ribs. The heat that comes off Kyoya is unusually potent, but what draws more concern is that he doesn’t resist at all. “Let’s get out of here,” Benkei decides.

  


The walk back is slow going, although not as much as it was finding the room, and no one speaks much during it which leaves no distraction as Benkei tries not to fret about the thick choppiness of the breaths coming from his side. They didn’t have much time to spare with only a short amount of reprieve before the police would set up a search in this area of the building as well, and they weren’t to interfere with that. Just as expected, walking out the door they’d come from is met with the organized chaos of officers cleaning up their investigation of the first area. A few take notice of them and look like they want to offer help, but no ambulance has arrived yet with the tools they’d need and there’s little more for them to do. Besides, outside there’s a helicopter waiting.

  


It’s as they’re leaving the elevator from the higher floors that, after watching Kyoya’s head sink lower and lower with every minute, his foot begins to drag and Benkei isn’t so much supporting him as carrying. The other foot keeps drifting downwards before being jerked up, and the heat burning through Benkei’s side from him is getting harder to ignore.

  


Benkei finally halts and calls, “Just a minute you guys!” The sudden stop makes Kyoya slump a little more. The others pause and turn around.

  


“Is he alright?” Madoka asks nervously. 

  


Feeling wrinkles of concern fold into his forehead again as he shifts Kyoya to try and see his face, Benkei’s stomach drops at the sickly hue of his skin shiny with a layer of sweat and the way Kyoya’s eyes gaze sightlessly into the distance. “He’s really sick,” Benkei says. Considering the distance still left to the helicopter, he insists, “He’s not going to make it like this! I’ll have to carry him.”

  


Crouching over and bringing Kyoya’s other arm over his shoulder, Benkei hoists him onto his back from under his legs. Briefly, Kyoya stiffens when his right foot leaves the ground, but doesn’t have any fight remaining to do more than fall limp. 

  


He’s lighter than he should be. 


	2. In the Cold and Quiet

It takes around fifteen minutes to cross from the exit to where the helicopter is waiting. During that time Gingka tries not to glance back at Benkei, with Kyoya’s arms strung loosely down his shoulders like a lengthy necklace and his face propped against Benkei’s back. The side visible is smudged with purple. It looks like he’s unconscious. Gingka’s the first to climb in the helicopter, and so he’s the first to be hit with his father’s questions. 

 

“How bad?” 

 

From the solemnity of his face and voice, he’s not expecting good news. Stepping aside to the left and sitting down next to him, Gingka starts, “Really bad, we need to go to the hospital.” 

 

His father’s mouth thins as he nods and gets up to tell the pilot. Benkei and Nile, now carrying Kyoya between them so as not to hit his head on the low ceiling, move precautiously to the back of the helicopter with Demure following behind. Gingka watches them settle Kyoya between them while the rest of the group trail onboard, his eyes stuck to the limp way Kyoya slumps in his seat like his bones won’t hold him up themselves. The light coming from the circular windows lining the sides of the helicopter reflects bright enough that Gingka can almost convince himself Kyoya isn’t as sickeningly pale as he remembers from outside. He still can’t unglue himself until his father returns to his seat. 

 

“I just… can’t believe it,” Gingka says, awe-soft, to him. 

 

His father looks brooding as he returns the feeling with, “Neither can I. I’m not sure who would do this- or who  _ could  _ have done it?” He looks over at Kyoya for a moment, taking in the damage before continuing, “Kyoya is a strong blader with an unyielding spirit. The kind of organization it would take to hold a blader like him for so long, and to do this kind of thing to him would have to be on par with the Dark Nebula.”

 

At the mention of the group Gingka sits up and gasps. “The Dark Nebula?”

 

“Yes,” His father nods. “But they were disbanded after Battle Bladers. The WBBA doesn’t have any information on another group like them and it doesn’t look like they left much behind for us to find out more. If it hadn’t been for the tip we received, we might not have found Kyoya at all.”

 

Gingka turns away and swallows hard. 

 

The screech of the engine powering up fills the air. It takes about a minute before it dies into a loud hum and the helicopter lifts from the ground. Gingka grips the seat as he’s pressed into it and glances out the window behind him, watching the ground, and then the building they just left get farther and farther away. He watches until it's out of sight because having it disappear makes it seem like it doesn’t exist, and by the churning in his stomach Gingka can tell it won’t let them forget about it for a long time. 

 

Behind him, Gingka can hear Masamune and Madoka talking from the seats across from him but he doesn’t turn back until he hears Madoka ask, “Where did they even come from? I’ve never seen anything about this, not even online.”

 

“Who knows? Some people are just horrible,” Masamune says, but Madoka isn’t satisfied. 

 

She insists, “Organizations like this don’t just come out of nowhere, they have to have funding and connections- these people even had a front for the whole thing! They seem too… established to just be some one-off gang of jerks.” She sighs regretfully. “Anyways, no one-off gang of jerks could ever do something like this to Kyoya. As one of the top bladers in Japan- in the  _ world _ , he should have been completely safe no matter where he was. But somehow… somehow they…” She trails off, pursing her lips tightly. 

 

Gingka glances at Masamune and whispers, “Is he asleep?” 

 

Masamune blinks, leans slightly to see, then nods. Gingka had thought as much, but he hadn’t wanted to talk about Kyoya while he was listening. He says quietly, “The way he looked back there, in that cage, I’ve never seen him so… cornered. Like it didn’t matter if he knew us at all because of what we could do to him at that moment.”

 

Madoka winces and complains, “Oh, I don’t want to even think about what he went through! This is all wrong!”

 

His expression hardening, Masamune tells her, “We’ll find out who did this and make them pay!” He swings an arm back. “This isn’t right, they can’t do this to people! I can’t allow it!” 

 

“There isn’t anything you can do,” Gingka’s father interrupts. “Anything  _ any  _ of you can do until we find out who or what is behind all of this.” He meets all three of their eyes with a deathly serious look. “This group has already proved themselves to be very dangerous. I don’t want any one of you hunting them down by yourselves, is that clear?” 

 

Reluctantly they agree, and the matter closes. 

 

For Yu, however, two seats down from Madoka, he can’t stop thinking about it. The more his mind goes over the situation, the more uneasy he feels. The bruises he can see on Kyoya in the seat across from him, one to the left, are a lot like seeing the defeated bladers of the Dark Nebula- only so much worse. At least they were left in a storage room instead of a little dog pen. And unlike those bladers Kyoya isn’t unconscious from having his spirit taken, it’s because of injuries more severe than anything Yu saw back in those days. 

 

“Hey, Tsubasa?” He says quietly no one else will hear him over the noise of the chopper blades. Tsubasa hums inquisitively so he continues, “Do you think Yoyo will tell us what happened when he’s better?”

 

Tsubasa considers him for a moment, and given the subdued way Yu feels he doesn’t blame him, before offering, “Maybe.”

 

“Just… no one should get locked up like that. Especially alone in the dark. It’s, uh, it isn’t fun.” He stares at his feet and kicks them a little. He adds in a mumble, “Beybattles shouldn’t hurt people like that either. That isn’t a real fight, it’s just evil.” 

 

Tsubasa nods. “You’re right, Yu. This wasn’t a fair fight. If it were, I have no doubt Kyoya could have handled himself.” He gazes over at Kyoya. “When he’s well enough to tell us about it, we’ll have to be ready to stop whoever’s behind this, and to support him in any way we can. Fights like these can leave a blader’s spirit damaged.” Yu watches his golden eyes narrow and fall away in troubled thought. Little reminder was needed for Yu, who touches Libra in his pocket and imagines the missing chunks made once when they fought hard to protect themselves from bladers like those. 

By the time they reach the helipad closest to a hospital dusk is settling in. The sky has taken a warm hue in the west to offset the growing purple across from it, although clouds are beginning to thicken as well. Streetlights are coming on. The helicopter hovers cautiously down, and Nile watches the other get off first before helping Benkei move Kyoya again. For the first time since they’d boarded Kyoya stirs and shies away before he recognizes them and he allows the pair of them to awkwardly maneuver out the door with him. Mr. Hagane had called some people during the ride, and apparently had arranged two WBBA cars to pick them up because they’re waiting just off the helipad. Just getting to one, however, is enough to make Nile’s arms burn a little. The others have left the way to the back free for them, thankfully, and while it still isn’t easy squeezing in without bumping Kyoya too much, they manage and settle him, as they did on the helicopter, between themselves. Demure takes a seat just in front of them by Tsubasa and Madoka, and the Director sits in front with the driver. Gingka and the rest must have taken the other one. The car starts and nothing disturbs the quiet besides Mr. Hagane’s directions to the driver and Kyoya’s flighty breaths until midway through the drive. 

 

Nile sighs when, after overtaking the colors of sunset with gray, the rain inevitably spatters over the back windshield. He’s always liked rain just fine, but the way it sucks the heat from the car is wearing on already frayed nerves and he wants nothing more now than to get out of it. A shiver against his side grabs his attention and he turns to see Kyoya still awake, although looking very much like he wants to be anything but by the way he twists half-heartedly against the seat. Nile watches him try to find some kind of comfort through his misery before he gives up and simply lays there, blinking glassy eyes slowly at nothing until a chill seeps in and he curls up a little more. 

 

“He looks cold,” Nile comments, breaking the spell over the car. 

 

Benkei nods and says hesitantly, “I’d give him my jacket, but he’s still burning up. I’m worried that the heat will get worse if I do.”

 

Nile hums in acknowledgment, it seems sound to him, but he doesn’t feel any better about watching Kyoya suffer through it. 

 

Demure turns in his seat and asks, “Do you think he’ll be okay eventually? I mean, I know the fever will go, and his leg and wounds will probably all heal alright but…” He trails off.

 

“- But he might not be the same Kyoya…” Nile finishes. Demure nods somberly, and Nile glances back Kyoya, feeling weary. He had once considered himself apart from other bladers, as though his tactical mind made him higher somehow, and it wasn’t until he’d met someone so much more deserving of his respect that Nile changed how he thought. Kyoya was an unstoppable force when they met, and somehow it became important to Nile to see him succeed because he knew Kyoya could. But, no matter how resilient, no matter how bright his spirit is, Nile has to come to grips with the fact that Kyoya is only fifteen and very human. Bad things can happen to him and break him. 

 

Nile shuts his eyes. He couldn’t give up yet. Not when there was still a sliver of hope that Kyoya will get up again unfazed. He has to hold on. Kyoya wouldn’t take nicely to being written off besides that. 

 

The car pulls up in front of the hospital, while the other one moves to the parking lot instead. Gingka understands that they don’t have any emergency like the other, but he’s still impatient to rush over to where he sees Tsubasa and his father hovering by Wildfang. As soon as they stop he wastes no time, and he can hear Kenta, Yu, and Masamune hot on his heels. With the rest of them spotting, Gingka’s father goes inside ahead of them, and by the time they enter the hospital there’s a trolley waiting and a gaggle of overly eager nurses, who are quick to take Kyoya and disappear. 

 

Then they wait. The hours that tick by are near unbearable, tempers running close to the skin as everyone simply tries to bear it. Masamune is the only one really being productive by attempting to distract Yu and Kenta in any fashion that comes to mind, but it’s a failing effort. Benkei’s been pacing the floor for a long time when Tsubasa finally asks, slightly irritated, “Can you stop? You’re making me seasick.”

 

“Don’t order me around!” Benkei snaps back. 

 

Tsubasa looks like he’s considering leaving it, like he knows he really should, but his nerves are short enough that he replies, “I wasn’t. I was just  _ suggesting _ . Could you  _ please  _ sit down?”

 

“You may as well quit, he does this every time he’s nervous,” Nile tells him flatly from across the row of blue plastic waiting chairs.

  
  


“Of course I’m nervous!!” Benkei declares angrily. “Kyoya’s all alone in there, more hurt and sick than I’ve ever seen him in my life and I’m out here being  _ useless!!” _

 

Speaking up in a forced level voice, Gingka tells him, “He’ll be fine. Kyoya  _ will  _ pull through.”

 

“And what if he doesn’t?!?” Benkei wails in desperation.

 

“Would you really doubt Kyoya like that?” Nile asks dangerously, and it gives Benkei enough pause to pull himself together a bit. 

 

He looks down, ashamed. “No. If anyone can pull through…- I know Kyoya can. But I don’t want him to have to.” And there is the crux of it. They all fall silent, realizing that their own feelings echo Benkei’s statement. 

 

Ryo takes the silence to add his own input. “I don’t believe Kyoya will allow this to stop him. Worrying yourselves like this won’t do any good, just be ready to be there for him, even if he doesn’t want our help.”

 

Beside Nile Demure sighs and murmurs, “That much is very Kyoya-like.”

 

A click surprises Gingka and he turns to the door opening where a lady pokes her head out. “Group here for… Kyoya Tategami?” 

 

He trips finding his feet, and the others stand as well. She nods and ushers them into a hallway where she leads them to a secluded hospital room Gingka notes as similar to the one Tsubasa stayed in when his battles and behavior were altered by the dark power. The white light illuminating the room sticks out against the dark window and only adds to the stillness of the room- as well as the stillness of its inhabitant. His tangled green hair splayed under his head as Kyoya sleeps, the flush to his thin, dirty face and the way each wheeze of breath passes through parted lips; it all sticks out against the sterile hospital sheets. Gingka’s lips thin at the cannula draped over his face to his nose, as well as the IV he spies taped to the inside of Kyoya’s elbow, arm laying over the thin blanket.

 

“He’ll have to remain here for now,” Gingka hears the nurse saying behind them. “I’m afraid you’ll have to leave soon, visiting hours are almost up and we don’t allow people to stay overnight unless it’s for a life-threatening condition.” She walks out, leaving them alone in the room. 

 

No one moves for a few minutes, not daring to disturb the silence until Tsubasa murmurs, “We can’t do much more here.” The implication is understood, and hesitantly, they begin to wander out. 

 

Nile and the rest of Kyoya’s team stall, and he tells them, “We’ll stay. Just for a little longer.” Gingka nods to them, then allows his father to lead him out with a soft hand on his shoulder. 

 

Tomorrow will probably be better. Probably. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> M'k, next chapter needs some strong rework so I won't post it yet, but it exists.


	3. Patience with Patients

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoya is, unsurprisingly, very bad at being a good hospital patient. Generally unimportant hospital staff receive names.

The next morning, Gingka sits up and rubs away sleep before looking around at his room. Something seems off. A bead of tension sits in his chest until it nags awake the memories of yesterday. 

 

The adrenalin of  _ The police are securing the building- we’ll know about Kyoya soon enough _ from his father in a way that was supposed to be reassuring, but Ryo is too transparent so they all saw the unsurety in his eyes. 

 

Gingka pushed and pushed until they were rushing to the location with hearts in their throats. 

 

And then. The hours afterward trying to sleep.  _ He’s okay he’s okay he’s at the hospital please be okay  _ running rings in his head until everything went dark. 

 

All the memories are there but, staring at the still room around him, he can’t help but think,  _ did it really happen _ ? 

 

The rest of the apartment seems to be the same way when he gets up. The only noise, in fact, is quiet sounds from his father’s room, getting ready probably. It’s as if all the urgency of yesterday simply evaporated. 

 

Sometime later Ryo Hagane finally comes out, moving just as rushed as before, and Gingka leaps up from his seat at the table. It’s almost a relief to have his unsettled nerves validated. “Dad, we-”

 

“The hospital, of course. I just needed to get a few things sorted first.” 

 

Right as they get to the door someone knocks, and they open it to Madoka. “I’m sorry, but the hospital is on the other side of town and I need a ride.” 

 

They take her, of course. Upon arriving, they’re surprised to see team Wildfang’s members still there. Benkei’s dozing on the couch with Demure halfway the same leaning up against his side. Even Nile is slumped over the chair in the room, only lifting his head to shoot a worn look at them when they walk in. 

 

“What happened to you guys?” Madoka asks, gazing around at the team. 

 

As the most put together, Nile sighs, “Kyoya started having these really awful nightmares at, like, 11:45 I think? Hospital called us. Good thing I told Benkei to leave them his number. They wanted someone who understood the situation to help calm him down.” He scrubs at his eyes, flaking off his eye paint without either realizing or caring. “Didn’t help much, they ended up sedating him.”

 

Gingka’s still wrapping his head around what he said first. “Nightmares…?”

 

Nile nods his head loosely. “He was panicking, fighting nurses and knocking over stuff. But he didn’t say anything, just growled and screamed like... an animal. We tried to just, talk him down. But he backed away from us all the way off the bed and hit his broken leg on the ground. That’s how we got to him before he could do anything. Benkei held onto him until he wore himself out.” All the talking seems to deflate him further, and he drops his chin back onto the chair back. 

 

Kyoya is asleep now, as he said. An air mask has replaced the cannula strapped over his face, and his leg is splinted in something plastic and temporary looking. When Gingka looks closer, he notices the dirt on his cheeks has been smudged away. Resolutely he turns away, trying not to think about it. They, fortunately, don’t have to pull any more answers from Nile because a doctor walks in. 

 

He pauses upon seeing them. “Are you all-” he begins, gesturing with a pen. 

 

“We’re his friends,” Madoka says with much more confidence than Gingka would expect her to say with that. 

 

“Any family?” The doctor asks. “We didn’t have any contacts besides the one Mr. Hanawa#(Benkei) left us, so…” 

 

After a few moments of silent glances across the room at each other, Ryo Hagane clears his throat. “As director of the WBBA I’ll take full responsibility for this blader, until the time we can find who his family is and contact them.” 

 

The doctor nods and shrugs a little, then begins, “Well, from our tests, we’ve gotten that he’s suffering pneumonia and infection from his wounds, he’ll need to be put on antibiotics for those. The tibia on his left leg was fractured in two places and healed incorrectly, it looks like the fibula might have been damaged as well. He’ll need surgery to correct that, we’ll do that after we’ve got the infection cleared up. For now, the leg just needs to stay immobilized. I’d like to do a CT scan, the bruising on his face indicates a head injury, and it looks like he might have a few broken ribs as well.” He clicks his pen expectantly and looks up from his clipboard. “Could I have your signature here?” 

 

When Ryo gives it to him, the doctor tucks the pen back into his pocket automatically, but by the way his fingers keep straying to it Gingka wonders if it’ll stay there. “Excellent. I have some concerns-... it appears he was involved in a fight? Do any of you know-”

 

Ryo interrupts, “He’s the top blader that went missing.”

 

“Oh.” The doctor stares at him, wide-eyed, pausing for a longer explanation that doesn’t come. “So... he’s finally been found?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“... Do... you know of anything else we should check for?” The doctor asks cautiously. 

 

Ryo takes a steadying breath and answers, “I’d like to discuss that alone.” 

 

It startles Gingka, he looks between them, landing on his father to try to find an answer for what he’d said, but Ryo’s face gives nothing away this time. With a sinking feeling, Gingka wonders if he really does want to know. 

 

The Doctor nods. “Alright. We’re keeping him in sedation right now, he was too wild earlier and we were afraid he’d injure himself. Later we’d like to reduce the sedation, see how he is, whether or not we can get him to calm down without medication. If we can’t we’ll have to talk about options.”

 

They glance over at Kyoya again, still as death. “Alright,” Ryo says softly without turning back. The doctor leaves, satisfied with what he’d gotten. 

 

For a few moments after, no one says anything. Then Ryo begins, “Nile?”

 

Nile doesn’t stir, his face pressed into the chair back in a way sure to leave imprints. Ryo has to call again before he jerks up, blinking rapidly. 

 

“Do you know where Kyoya’s staying? Where his family is?” Ryo asks. 

 

Nile drags a palm over his face and grunts, “Kyoya doesn’t stay in one place, far as I can tell. I dunno, Benkei might know the answer to the family question, but I wouldn’t bet on it. He’s not much for sharing.” 

 

“Ok, thank you,” Ryo tells him. Answers given, Nile slumps back down on the headrest. Ryo then turns back to Gingka and says seriously, “How do you feel, if… we can’t find somewhere else for Kyoya to stay, he stays with us?”

 

Gingka gapes a little. “Yeah, that’s fine with me, dad.” It was, in Gingka’s mind, just simple decency to offer what he had to friends who didn’t. Whatever he can do for Kyoya, Gingka absolutely will. That’s what friends are for. 

 

His father straightens. “Good. Then it’s settled. I need to speak with the doctor more, but if Benkei wakes up, please ask him about Kyoya’s family.”

 

“Leave it to us!” Madoka chirps. Her cheer had faded with the nerves in the room, but with a purpose, she seemed to be feeling better. 

 

With a nod, he walks out, shutting the door quietly behind him. 

 

-

 

Benkei doesn’t know very much about Kyoya’s family and nothing that will help them. 

 

Some tests are run while Kyoya’s out, and the doctor tells them his results are all negative for any of the things they were worried about. It doesn’t escape Gingka that the doctor and his father seem too casual about something no one will say explicitly, but since it’s negative, he lets it drop. There’s no point in getting wound up over something that might not even be as important as he thinks. Once the tests are done, they take him off the sedation. 

 

A nurse stands by while they wait for Kyoya to fully wake up in case she needs to start it again. Wildfang has, at this point, pulled themselves together and woken up, now eagerly waiting with Gingka, Madoka, and Ryo for the assurance that Kyoya really is on the road to recovery. First comes wooziness. His eyes are open, he’s looking around at them with a slight scowl like he’s trying to puzzle out what’s happening, but all done sluggishly so he looks like somebody just woke him up too early. If, say, he was woken up with a baseball bat to the face. Gingka tries not to cringe at the ugly bruising. It looks more painful with Kyoya awake. 

 

“Kyoya-pal.” Benkei says it like all the air deflates out of his lungs with relief. From the other hesitant smiles, the feeling is mutual. “How are you feeling, buddy?”

 

Kyoya doesn’t say. It could be blamed on the lingering drugs in his system, but Gingka finds his smile waning. He hadn’t spoken back at the building, or last night while Wildfang was here.  _ Kyoya’s not talkative,  _ he reminds himself.  _ Not unless it’s about beyblade.  _ He sets his worries aside. 

 

“You’re at the hospital,” Nile tells Kyoya. Kyoya glances at him and starts to shift, which brings his attention to the IV in his arm. As he wakes up more, his scowl begins to harden. 

 

The nurse is watching the monitors. “His heart rate’s going up, his breathing too. Which is normal, coming out of sedation, but it’s moving along too quickly. It may be stress.” She brushes her braid of black hair back absently, too focused on her patient. 

 

“But he’s fine though, right?” Madoka insists. 

 

The nurse presses her lips together. “I’ll give it some more time, coming back from being completely under isn’t usually a smooth process. We’re just careful that he doesn’t react like before.”

 

Kyoya doesn’t, once he’s fully woken up. He doesn’t fight like Nile had described of the other night, but his vitals tell the nurse he’s not calm at all. Especially not once his breathing becomes troubled by his condition, and coughing begins to rattle through his lungs. 

 

“He’s doing better,” The nurse tells them kindly. “But I think it’ll be best if we keep him on low sedation, at least for now. He’ll still be fairly awake and aware, so you can still talk to him, he just won’t be getting up any time soon- which is exactly what we want while he’s healing.”

 

\- 

 

“Hey, dad? I’m going down to the hospital,” Gingka calls from the door. It felt redundant to say, as Gingka had been going down almost every day since Kyoya had been admitted. But his father had asked Gingka to tell him where he was going, at least for now. So Gingka did. 

 

By Ryo’s distracted half-response though, he’s just as bored with it. Gingka  _ is  _ self-sufficient after all. Kyoya was too though. 

 

He’s expecting the same sort of visit he’s had every time, but when Gingka reaches the room Saki, the nurse with the long black braid and another nurse are there to meet him at the door. Neither have positive expressions. “We lost Kyoya,” Saki blurts. 

 

“What?!” Gingka gapes. “Isn’t he still sedated?!”

 

“ _ Yes!! _ And his leg and ribs are still broken!! There’s no way he should be up!” She cries, her eyes glittering with worry. 

 

_ Ah.  _ Gingka groans and plants his face in his hands. _ That’s why.  _ Normally he was inspired by Kyoya’s determination, but this is insane. “Kyoya doesn’t really follow what should be possible, and he doesn’t like staying down.”

 

“We’re already looking for him,” She assures, moving around him. “Maybe you can help us?”

 

“I can try.”

 

Despite coming here so many times already, Gingka is only familiar with the path to Kyoya’s room. He has no idea where to start around the rest of the hospital. 

 

“Any idea of what kind of place he might go to?” Nurse Saki asks him as they jog through the halls. 

 

“Uhm…” At first, he almost says “No”, but then he really thinks. Hesitantly, he tells her, “Kyoya… he likes to get space from everything. If he’s trying to get to where he can use his bey, he’d either go somewhere open or outside.”

 

“We’ve already checked outdoors, we try to check the most dangerous areas after the ones close by,” She tells him. 

 

Gingka nods, “Alright, I guess that rules out the roof…”  _ Where would he have gone then?  _ “Are there any areas where there aren’t a lot of people? Like, quiet places, or unused rooms?” 

 

Right as she opens her mouth she pauses with a look of surprise, stopping and pulling out something from her pocket. She turns to Gingka. “I just got paged to go back to his room, they might have found him.” 

 

Gingka deflates with a heavy breath. “I hope so! Man, what was he thinking?!” 

 

Saki humors him with a smile, and they head back up. 

 

As hoped, Kyoya is back in bed, and completely out cold now. Sedated probably, but he does look worse for wear, pale and sweaty and wheezing a bit. The doctor that’s been helping them is waiting for them. “Ah! The younger Hagane! Ha, sorry you came when this craziness was going on.” He swishes his pen in the air like a pointer. “I’m baffled as to how he managed to get so far!!” 

 

“Doctor  Tabun jaaku, where was he?” Saki asks, breathing still rough from their racing around. 

He rubs his teal hair, smile crooked and confused. “Mr. Tategami somehow got himself all the way into another wing of the hospital in an empty room. We uh, had to pull him out from under the cot in there and he, he didn’t make it easy.” 

 

Gingka’s mouth falls into a frown. “Under…”

 

“Yes! His leg doesn’t look particularly more damaged but I think there is a bit of swelling, so, we might need another x-ray. You can hear his breathing is a little worse but I don’t think that’s anything to be concerned about right now, we’ll keep an eye on it anyways. Other than that somehow it seems he avoided much damage to himself.”

 

Gingka nods after a quick pause. “Oh. Um, alright. Whatever it takes to get Kyoya better.” The troubled nagging in his head doesn’t leave.

 

Tabunjaaku seems to notice it on his face, and awkwardly pats Gingka’s shoulder in what tries to be consoling. “Listen, uh, I know this has got to be really hard, with him being your friend and all.” He doesn’t seem to notice his other hand insistently clicking away at his pen, contrasting his serious attitude in a confusing way. “But I want you to know we’re really doing our best, I think Mr. Tategami will make almost a full recovery. So don’t worry too much.” 

 

_ That wasn’t quite what I was worried about, but I guess it's good to know.  _ Gingka nods and steps back, thankfully ending the doctor’s strange attempt at bedside manner. The doctor seems almost just as relieved for it. 

 

Stepping around them on the way to the door, Tabunjaaku adds, “I’ll call your father later to discuss what happened. Hopefully, we can prevent this from happening again.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow chapter three's rewrite got a little... stretched. So this is chapter three. And... so is the next chapter. Possibly the next one as well depending on how I finish the one after this. 
> 
> I wasn't going to post this so soon, I was going to finish the entirety of chapter three and re-rewrite it again for editing sake but I got apathetic, and then apathetic towards my apathy. So errors, mischaracterizations, plot holes, whatever, they're probably there. And let's be real, they'll come up in other chapters too, so I'm not worried.


End file.
